Automobile lighting system



p H. P. J. EARNSHAW AUTOMOBILE LIGHTING SYSTEM Filed Dec; 11, 1920 Inventor. 7 Henry P. J. Eornshaw bYfZMMaM Patented Sept. 16, 1924.

- UNITED STATES A 1,508,385 PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY P. J. EARNSHAW, OF NORTHIBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR '10 GEORGE F.

EABENSHAW, OF GLENOOE, ILLINOIS. I

AUTOMOBILE LIGHTING SYSTEM.

Application filed December 11, 1920. SerialgNo. 430,024.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY P. J. EARN. SHAW, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Northboro, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Automobile Lighting Systems,-of which the following description, in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

In driving automobiles at night one difficulty which an operator experiences is that of seeing clearly the right hand edge of the roadway when he is turning out to meet an oncoming automobile and this is specially true if the oncoming automobile has bright or dazzling headlights, because the lights of said oncoming automobile-are apt toblind the operator thus making it almost impossible for him to see the limits of the roadway. As a result of this, accidents frequently happen due to the fact that an operator will turn his automobile too far out of the roadway and may run into the ditch or run into, some obstruction, such as a tree or telephone pole. Furthermore when meeting an automobile with head lights of high power, the operator can not see clearly any pedestrians 1n the roadway ahead of him and this is also a source of danger.

It is the object of my invention to provide a novel means for illuminating the roadway ahead of an automobile by which all these dangers will be avoided. By means of my invention the right hand side of the roadway is highly illuminated so as to show up clearly the right hand ed e of the road and any persons, trees, telep one poles, or other obstacles on the right hand side and this is done in such a way as not to throw any glaring or confusing rays in the path of an oncoming automobile. With my invention an operator can always see how far it is safe for him to turn out in meeting another automobile and at the same time he is given a clear view of any obstacles in his path. Furthermore this result is ob-- tained in such a way that glaring or bright headlights from oncomin automobiles do not interfere with the V'lSlOIl of the operator as is the case with the ordinary headlights now in use. I

I accomplished these objects by,mounting on the right rear fender of the automobile a lamp which is so arranged that it will throw its beam of light onto the roadway a short distance in advance of the automobile, and so arranged the lamp that the area di-' reetly. ahead of the automobile is in' the shadow of the automobile which is caused by the lamp. The lam which I will preferably use is one simi ar to a so called spot light, that is, one which will throw a strong beam of light that has relatively. little divergence and will also throw out what may be termed, a secondary light that has much greater divergence but is of a soft character.

The lamp is so positioned that the stron beam 'of light will strike the roadwa "a" short distance in advance of illaautomobile and just outside of the line of travel of the wheels. A light thus placed illuminates perfectly the right hand side of the roadway and up to the line of travel of the right hand wheels of the automobile but does not illuminate the area directly ahead of the automobile, the latter being illumi nated by the ordinary head lights. Fur-1 thermore a light thus laced is not visible to an oncoming automo ile because it is hidden by the automobile body. Such a light throws a strong light where it is most needed, that is, on the right hand side of the road so that the operator always has a clear view of the right hand edge of the road. This makes it easy to drive at night because the operator can merel watch the right hand edge of the road an follow close to it without feeling any sense of danger thatvhe may run into pedestrians, trees or an obstruction.

order to give an understanding of my invention I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claim.

Fig. ,1 is a plan view of an automobile having my improvements ap lied thereto.

Fig. 2 1s a side view of t e rear right fenders having the lamp attached.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33, Fi 2.

Fig. 4 is a side view of an automo ile having my improvements. I

1 indicates an automobile having the usu al headlights 2 which may be of any suitable or usual construction.

3 indicates a lamp preferably somewhat on the order of the so-called spotlight and REISS'UED which is 'constructed to throw a brilliant beam of light. forwardly. This lamp 3 will lit) ' .tance in front of the automo ile. A; lamp spot than the beam of light will light up an area 7 of the s otlight type not only sends out a beam light but also sends out a so called .secondary light which illuminates .a much reater area than the beam or shaft of light iut to a much smaller degree.

ln the drawings the beam or shaft of light delivered from the lamp 3 is indicated between the lines 5 and 6 an this will pro- -duce on the roadway a highly illuminated indicated by the oval 20. The secondary light which has much greater'divergence extendingto approximately the line 211.

By placing t e lamp 3 on the right rear fender close to the automobile body and giving it the osition above described a highly illuminated area is produced a short distance in front of the automobile and just outside theline of travel of the right wheels and the automobile body and the front fender will cut 0d the light from the area 7 directly in front of the automobilesothat this area is not at all aflfected by the lamp 3.

' The usual headlights 2 serve to suficiently illuminate the said area 7. The so-called secondary light will illuminate the area 8' between the line 21 and the. line 6 which indicates the edge of the shadow cast by the automobile body. The entire area between the line 6 and 21 is therefore illuminated to a certain extent and in addition the ortion till of this area indicated by the ova 20 is highly illuminated by the beam of light. With this arrangementthe division line 6 between the light area 8 and the unli hted area 7 will be approximately in line wit the right hand side of the automobile and the bright rays from the lamp 3 will be concealed from any object which is directly ahead of the automobile. This area 7 ahead of the automobile is li hted by means of the usual head-lights 2 w ich can be made to fully-comply with all legal requirements.

In operating an automobile having this method of lighting the roadway the operator finds it extremely easy to follow. the roadway even on a foggy ni ht because the right hand edge of the roadway is always hig ly illuminated and he can safely drive at aneaeee ordinary speed by simply following the line at the right hand e "go of the roadway. Moreover the position of the lamp 3 is such that it is concealed from the view of anything. directly in front of the automobile and therefore the bright rays from the light 3' do not interfere at all with the operation of an oncoming automobile.

The lamp 3 may be attached to the rear fender d in any suitable way without departing from the. invention. it have herein shown the fender as provided with an archshaped supporting bracket 9 having a slot 10 therein. The lamp 3 is provided with a hollow stem 11 through which the wires are laid to the lamp terminals and which is inserted through the slot 10. 12 and '13 indicate two clamping blocks through which the stem ll passes and which are situated on either side of the slotted portion of the bracket 9. The collar or block 12 rests .against a shoulder 14: formed on the stem 11 and the two collars or blocks are clamped against the bracket by means of a clamping nut 15 which is screw threaded to the stem ll. These blocks 12 and 13 have rounded surfaces to fit the curvature of the bracket 9. By means of this construction the lamp can be turned about a vertical axis so as to direct the light rays in the proper direction horizontally and by adjusting the lamp *lon itudinally of the bracket the elevation tirely on the right of the driver, and in avertieal plane substantiall arallel to the direction of -movement o te automobile thereby to produce a bri htly illuminated area in front of and direct y outside the line of travel of the automobile, the shadow of the ri ht front fender forming the left side of sai brightly illuminated area, said lamp bein so situated with reference to the automobile body that the road area directly in front of the automobile will be in the shadow thereof whereby said lamp is not visible to anyone directly in front of the automobile. v

lln testimony whereof, l have signed my name to this s ecification.

' H ltY P. d. EARNSHAW.

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